Changes
by Garuto in the real world
Summary: Everyone you'll meet will leave a trace that is going to change you and your future. What kind of trace will Itachi leave on the young kazekage?  ItaGaa in later chapters ;P
1. First impressions

Weeaay I'm back with a new story :D This was supposed to be a serious story, but it didn't work out that way xD Anyway I hope you'll enjoy ^^

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The kazekage wandered through the corridors in the kage-building in the middle of the night. Even though Shukaku had been extracted from him over a year ago sleep still didn't come to him. He usually spent hours turning in bed while pretending to sleep so that his somewhat overprotecting siblings wouldn't worry and drag him to the doctor again. As soon as he was certain that both Temari and Kankuro had gone to bed he started his nightly walk through out the corridors. He headed up the fire-stairs before he walked out on the roof and took some deep breaths to calm his nerves. The Akatsuki was going to arrive the next day to start the peace negotiations between the Akatsuki and the five nations. This would make anyone's heart beat a little faster, but that was still not what bothered him. He could handle criminals and murderers without a problem no matter how disturbed they may be, but it was a complete different thing when it came to stubborn kages' with very determined ideas. Suddenly the young kazekage heard the door swung open and brought up his sand by habit, since this was hardly an unfamiliar scene for him. He threw a look backwards and let the sand back down when he saw his brother standing by the door in nothing but his underwear.

"I don't believe that's appropriate clothing, Kankuro."

"Well nobody is here except us so it doesn't really matter, does it?"

The redhead remained silent.

"There's really no need to worry about tomorrow, you know. Most of the Akatsuki should actually fear you more than you need to fear them", the puppet master said and regretted it the moment the words left his mouth. Luckily Gaara didn't seem to react to the accidental insinuation. He simply walked past his brother back into the building.

"Goodnight, aniki."

As you would expect Gaara didn't go to sleep after he left Kankuro alone on the roof. Instead he returned to his office and decided to spend the remaining hours of the night trying to finish of some paperwork. As the first beams of sun started to shine into the office a young man walked in and silently closed the door behind him. The young man simply stood by the door without saying a word as he waited for the kazekage to take some notice of him. Gaara slowly finished signing a piece of paper and neatly put it on the top of the pile that he had created on his desk before he lifted his head and his green eyes met the bright red ones that belonged to the young man.

"Uchiha Itachi, we weren't expecting you and your comrades until this afternoon. What brings you here so early", he said with a voice that said: "What the hell are you doing here?"

"We travelled through the night. We figured that it would be good if the negotiations start as soon as possible."

"Well the other kages' hasn't arrived yet so that isn't possible. Where is the rest of your group?"

"They are waiting by the entrance. Don't worry they are waiting inside and nobody in Suna has even noticed us arriving", answered Itachi the unspoken question.

"Good", Gaara simply said and walked past his guest and continued down the hall. The raven haired man stood still for a short moment before he followed the kazekage down the hall. Because of his height it didn't take much time for him to catch up with the redhead that was practically racing through the halls and jumping down the stairs. He simply couldn't get rid of the feeling that the Akatsuki members would release mayhem on the town he just left them alone for another second. Itachi spent some time observing the redhead with a small smile before he spoke again.

"You seem nervous, or maybe suspicious is the right word for it."

The younger man suddenly stopped with his hand resting against the handle of a door and turned to face Itachi. "I hardly have a reason to trust you, now do I", he answered with a deadly glare before he opened the door into the entrance hall.

Gaara was, to put it mildly, shocked by what he saw when he opened the door. Sasori had managed to wrestle Deidara down onto the floor and was now laying on top of him in his attempt to stop the blonde from blowing up every piece of art in the kage-building. Tobi had knocked down both of the sculptures that stood next the door which had led to that the floor was now covered of shards, pieces and broken human limbs made out of white stone. But you can't really blame Tobi for that… Who wouldn't run around the room like a maniac if they were chased by a gray haired S-ranked criminal with a severe attitude problem that's shouting out profanities as he's trying to cut you into tiny microscopically sized pieces?

The only ones that actually noticed the two men when they walked into the room was Kakuzu and Kisame that had been standing by the entrance, simply small talking like the scene before them was nothing out of the ordinary. They started to slowly walk through the room but were forced to stop when Zetsu came up from the floor just enough so that his upper body was completely visible, and said "Hey guys, I've found that blonde chicks bedroom. Wanna check it out?"

"WHAT?"

The entire room went completely silent as all the Akatsuki slowly turned to face the kazekage, just before they all flew up and tried to look as innocent and respectable as they could. Needless to say they all failed miserably.

With that in mind so were the first impression hardly the greatest for both sides since the Akatsuki members was... well... Akatsuki members, and Gaara was quite frankly pissed off but was too shocked to completely grasp the feeling. Itachi on the other hand still had the same small smile on his face and seemed quite pleased with how the scene had played out before them. His crimson eyes turned once again to rest upon the redhead, which fuelled the redhead's anger even more.

"All right, listen up everybody. I'm not going to act all frightened and timid in front of you just because you walk around killing random people. I've done that myself for many years so I know for a fact that it's not as difficult as everybody seems to think it is, since it's mostly just a matter of will. With that said I just want to make it clear to all of you that you have to clean this shit up, and that includes getting rid of all the bloodstains, before Temari and Kankurou wakes up because they'll think I've done it. And NOBODY is going to check out my sister's bedroom!"

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Don't forget to review ;) Hugs and cookies / Garuto


	2. Discussions over tea

Warning: my beta-reader has been busy with homework which have kept her from reading this, so be aware of spelling/grammar errors within this chapter. And I'm sorry that this chapter is kinda short but I'll make the next one longer :)

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Gaara never managed to make the Akatsuki members clean up the mess, since Hidan lost his temper once again and started screaming at the kazekage that they didn't need this bloody peace negotiation and that they didn't have to do anything a short little emo-kid told them to. He probably could have continued for another twenty minutes or so, but luckily Kakuzu dragged him outside before he had a chance to continue. (A/N: what Kakuzu did to Hidan while outside has been censored because of rating... And don't read anything into that. I'm only referring to extreme violence and nothing else) After Kakuzu had closed the door behind them the remaining part of the group turned to look at the kazekage once more, except for Kisame that studied Itachi that still were standing beside the redhead. His eyes wandered from Itachi to Gaara and then back to Itachi as a small smile crept upon his face. He recognised that look on his partners face quite well.

"I assume that you two already have met..."

Gaara raised a questioning eyebrow at him, but chose not to answer Kisame's rhetorical question and turned instead to speak to all of Akatsuki. "We have arranged a special quarter were you will be staying during the negotiations. That is if you can assure us that something like this won't occur again."

"You don't have to worry about me, Gaara-sama", said the bright orange mask that suddenly had appeared mere inches from the kazekage's face. "Tobi is a good boy. Tobi won't do something like that again."

"Right... Could Tobi go and get the others that are outside?"

"Of course I can. Tobi is a good boy", and with those words the bright orange mask darted out of the room. Gaara waited until the door closed behind him before he turned and started to walk back down the corridor he had arrived through. When he noticed that the others still stood put he turned towards them. "Hurry up and follow me before those freaks return."

XXXX

"What the fuck guys, why the hell did you just leave us down there?" Hidan yelled as he walked into the living room where his other companions were seated. Tobi and Kakuzu soon followed him into the room, but in a quieter and more humble way. Itachi put down his cup of tea on the coffeetable before he decided to answer the gray haired man.

"The kazekage found the three of you annoying and described you as, and I quote, obnoxious idiots that he never would let anywhere close to Sunagakure under normal circumstances."

"That doesn't mean that you can fucking leave us there and just walk away!"

"We figured it wouldn't be good if we all started arguing with the kazekage before the negotiations even have begun", Sasori answered with his usual expressionless face. "And he actually has a point..."

"Don't act like that now again, Sasori-danna", his blonde partner answered. "They should feel honoured by the fact that we even consider doing this, un."

"Well if you three continues to act like this they'll probably change their mind before we get the chance to meet all of them", the redhead answered as he waved his hand towards Hidan, Tobi and Deidara.

"What is that supposed to mean, un? I haven't even done anything."

"Not yet, but it's just a matter of time."

During Deidara and Sasori's discussion Itachi disappeared into the kitchen to fetch some more tea. When the discussion between the two art-partners, as they were called by the rest of the group, got a little more intense Kisame noticed that the raven haired man was missing and followed him into the kitchen. Itachi was standing with his hands resting against the table top with his back towards Kisame, and was staring into his steaming cup with a small mischievous smile on his lips.

"You seem quite pleased to be here."

Itachi stood put and kept his eyes on the cup. Most wouldn't have noticed a change in his expression, but the smile had disappeared the second the sentence had reached his ears.

"I just want to get this over with as soon as possible."

"Really? Because you seemed to be... how shall I put it... fascinated by the kazekage."

Itachi's head darted up to the side and threw a deadly look towards the man. Luckily he managed to wipe of the deadly intent from his face, and after just a second was his face completely emotionless once again.

"I'm simply interested in how he managed to become kage so young", he answered as the noise from the living room grew louder. It seemed like Hidan had decided to join the conversation by the vocabulary that were audible into the kitchen.

"Come on, we both know that isn't true", Kisame teasingly said even though the humour was hard to hear in his voice since he was almost forced to scream to be heard over the sound of Kakuzu yelling at Hidan how much it would cost them to replace all the things he had destroyed while he was chasing Tobi. "But I must admit that I didn't think he was your type."

Itachi decided not to answer.

"I know that usually when you look at someone in that way it's usually a slim, dark haired _woman _and that you afterwards usually disappears for a couple of hours, before you return with a pleased look on your face."

Itachi still didn't answer and had returned to stare into his cup with a very determined look on his face. Those who didn't know him would have misinterpreted it as discomfort. Since Itachi refused to answer him, Kisame saw no other option than to continue talking until Itachi would be forced to answer him.

"With that in mind it would be interesting to know what your plans are for our young kage. We won't disappear tomorrow morning as we usually do, remember?"

That finally rewarded Kisame with a reaction from his partner, as the raven haired man turned around and started walking towards the door. When he passed the swordsman he stopped and looked up towards his blue face.

"You're impossible", he said before he continued out the door.

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I'm not going to say anything... I just want to make you aware of the review button...


	3. Gaara's bedroom

This chapter turned out a little more serious than the others. So WOOHOO! I've actually started the main story line now ^^ *happy dance*

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Just as Gaara had been doing just a few hours earlier so were Itachi wandering the corridors of the kage-builing, infuriated by Kisame's words. He had to admit that he found the kazekage to be... interesting, but Kisame simply had a too single-tracked mind. No, it was for more than what may be considered physical desires that he wanted to get as close to the young kage as possible. He wanted to know how a fifteen year old was capable of becoming one of the leaders of the five great ninja villages.

_'The kazekage is hardly the greatest strategist that the sand village has to offer, and his taijutsu abilities are close to nonexistent. Granted that he used to hold the power of the one tailed which have made him into an astonishingly strong ninja, but that power are now lost.'  
_  
The raven haired man turned a corner and continued down a long corridor as his inner dialogue continued.

_'That also leads to the interesting question of why he would want to dedicate his entire life to protect a people who hated him during his entire childhood. What kind of joy can it bring him to serve those who wouldn't even consider him to be a human being only a few years ago?'  
_  
Since he was so deep into his own thoughts so didn't he notice that he had reached the kazekage's private section of the building. A small smile grew back onto his lips as his red eyes trailed the crafted details of a big stone door that lead into the private quarters. He lifted his hand and began to trace the carved forms for a short moment before he finally knocked. The light bangs echoed throughout the hallway before it became completely silent once more. Itachi stood completely still as he waited for a response from the other side of the door, and when it didn't come he decided to knock once more. It was still completely silent from inside the door and he began to suspect that the kazekage had returned to his office after escorting his guests. Just as he turned to leave flew the massive door open and he was greeted by the same mixed expression of confusion and annoyance that he had received this morning. But the person that the look was coming from somehow seemed to have changed. The young redhead had changed out of his kage-robes and was now wearing a pair of black sweatpants and a tight black t-shirt that made him look even smaller than usual. The crimson hair was soaking wet which lead to a small drop of water fell down from his bangs onto his forehead. The water drop slowly made its way past the light green eyes, down the cheek to the pink lips that to Itachi's (who had been too occupied by the drop's movement to notice anything else) surprise were moving. The movement was at least enough to bring his attention back to reality.

"I'm terribly sorry, kazekage-sama. What were you saying?"

The redhead's eyes narrowed as their eyes met and shot away a deadly glare that would make grown men cry, but Itachi didn't even flinch.

"What are you doing here?"

"I were just wandering the halls and thought that it wouldn't hurt to properly introduce myself", said the older man as he studied the room over his host's shoulder. "May I come in?"

Gaara didn't answer him and the glare remained, but he still took a step back to let the older man in. Itachi wasn't at all surprised by the décor in the kazekage quarters. It seemed to symbolize the redhead perfectly somehow with its wine red walls, dark flooring and black metallic mirrors that were scattered around the room. In the middle of what seemed to be the living area were two massive couches in black leather facing each other with sand statues formed like flames on each side. It was in one of these couches that Gaara sat down on, still keeping his eyes on the Akatsuki member.

"I like the way you've designed this place, it's dusky and still remains stylish. It suits you."

Gaara still didn't answer, which forced Itachi to continue his examination of the room. He walked to the big glass doors that lead out to the balcony that was carefully decorated with minor fountains, birdbaths and bonsai-trees. He turned back around and faced the redhead again who still were staring at him. For the first time in a very long time so were Itachi feeling uncomfortable and had to break the eye contact almost immediately. His eyes darted away and landed on a door made out of dark wood by his right side.

"Where does that lead to?"

"My bedroom."

"I see… Would you mind if I take a look?", Itachi asked as he began walking towards the door.

"You want to see my bedroom?", Gaara said clearly surprised by the request. His eyes were open wide and his lips were partially open which made the raven haired man feel much more confident.

"Yes. If it doesn't bother you, I mean."

"Be my guest", the redhead answered quite stiffly.

Itachi couldn't help but chuckle at kazekage's attempt on sounding indifferent as he opened the door. The bedroom was decorated in the same fashion as the living room, but with a huge bed in the middle of the room dressed with black silk sheets and big red pillows. Even though Itachi usually is a very calm and collected man so couldn't he stop his mind from wandering away, and some inappropriate thoughts may have appeared when he had stepped into the bedroom. And the thoughts only got worse when the main character of the fantasy walked past him and sat down on the bed, which also had quite a big part in the fantasy to be completely honest. Sadly enough so were Itachi forced to push all of those thoughts away because the pink lips had started to move again.

"Can I assume that you came to see me for a reason, and not only to evaluate my skills when it comes to interior design?"

"I simply wanted to speak to you before the meeting", the older man said as he sat down on the bed next his younger counterpart. "I can't see anything wrong with that."

The tension between two rose as both men stared at each other with only a few inches separating their faces. It could have led to something quite interesting, but Gaara decided to be a total stick in the mud and completely ruined the mood.

"What did you want to speak to me about?"

"Nothing special really. I was just thinking about your sudden rise to the kage-title and a few questions came to mind."

"Like what?"

"You really are straight to the point", Itachi said with a small chuckle. "How long have you been the kazekage?"

"For two years now."

"I see… Don't you think you're wasting your prime years being locked inside an office?"

The kazekage's eyes once again got the same hateful feeling to them as earlier. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"That there are probably better things for a seventeen year old to do than to fill out tax reports. Even if you live in a desert."

"I'm perfectly happy with the choice I've made. And I don't believe that you have the right to question my authority." The statement led to another chuckle from the raven haired man.

"Perhaps not, and I don't believe I did. I'm just confused by the choice you made." He threw a glance towards the redhead and when no answer came so decided he to continue. "You've hardly had a warm relationship to the people of this village before you became the kazekage, and even now are there some who doesn't trust you. I can't understand why you would want to dedicate your entire life to protecting them. Especially when I consider the lifestyle you used to have only a few years ago."

Gaara immediately turned his face away and focused on a spot on the wall as he tried to not think about the life he used to live. The regretfulness soon turned into anger which was practically thrown at the criminal.

"You do know why you're here, right?", said the redhead with his voice filled with repressed anger.

"Of course, we've come to discuss a peace treaty with all of the five kages."

"Don't play dumb, Uchiha. We both know that is total bullshit so let's stop pretending. You're here because we want your help in the war against Uchiha Sasuke."

"So you want to make sure that we're on your side in this battle. That is understandable."

"No, that's not it at all. There's no question that this war will have a bloody ending and that everyone has to be prepared to make sacrifices in order win. What we want to know is if you will be able to kill your own brother… the boy that you played with and took care of when you were younger. Because if we ever get to that point can't we afford any decisions to be clouded by emotions and nostalgia."

"I don't know where you have gotten the idea that I wouldn't be able to kill Sasuke", Itachi answered almost like he was insulted. "I can assure you that I have no interest in my pathetic little brother or any kind of feelings for him that would keep us from victory."

Gaara felt the need to turn back, and green eyes met red once more before he continued speaking.

"Everyone knows about the mission to exterminate the Uchiha-clan and why you weren't able to kill Sasuke with the rest of your family. We also know the reason to why you decided to join the Akatsuki. So I'll ask you one more time; if you'll face your little brother one more time, will you then be capable of taking his life?"

The silence once again filled the room as the kazekage stared at the older man, almost like he was trying to force a response out of him.

"You have my word."

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This is the feeling that the rest of the story is going to have. So I really hope you liked it even though it was a bit of a change from the earlier chapters ;P


	4. Misunderstandings

Hello my dear readers. I'm finally back with a new chapter... It has been forever now I know, but it's quite long (for me at least) so I hope you'll forgive me.

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"…and remember to not interrupt the raikage, he hates it when you do that", Temari said as she walked down the hallway next to her brothers on their way to the meeting hall. She had continued her ranting about all the unwritten rules that he had to remember while addressing the other kages.

"Come on now, sis'. It's only good that he stops him before he goes too far and starts a war or something", the older brother stated with a small chuckle which earned him a smack over the head from the blonde. The trio had now reached the door that separated them from the rest of the kages.

"Will the two of you stop bickering? I thought you were going to act professional for once", the kazekage snapped at his siblings.

"Whoa, what's wrong with you today?" his brother asked as he threw a concerned glance towards their sister. The last thing they wanted were that there brother would turn back into his old asocial self again.

The question immediately brought Gaara's thoughts back to the conversation he had earlier that morning, but forced himself to focus on the task ahead and walked into the room without a word.

The other leaders were all sitting around a large circular table that Gaara had to walk around to take his seat between the mizukage and tsuchikage. He drew a deep breath to calm his nerves before opening his mouth in order to speak. Unfortunately he didn't manage to make sound before someone else decided to speak.

"Where have you been, kazekage? You've kept us waiting", asked the mizukage as she pulled her red hair back. When Gaara finally raised his head could he see that the raikage also had planned to speak and he probably not had been as polite about it as the mizukage? He quickly glanced around the table before once again collecting himself in order to speak.

"You must excuse me, but I had an unexpected meeting with our guests which did not allow me enough time to get ready."

The atmosphere in the room suddenly grew tense and everyone looked as shocked as kages were allowed to look. Temari and Kankuro looked like dumbfounded buffoons in comparison with their wide eyes and open mouths.

A couple of seconds passed in complete silence. Finally the hokage decided to break the silence.

"When did they arrive?"

"At dawn."

"And I can take it that it went well?"

"At least it didn't go as bad as the last time he encountered the Akatsuki" the raikage shot in as he drummed his fingers against the table. The kazekage slowly turned his head in order to look at the older man in front of him and shot a quick glare towards him before turning back into his normal self. He forced himself to put on a small smile, since he had been told that smiling was a key element when it came to diplomatic resolutions, and finally answered the hokage's question.

"There were at least no bigger damages than a couple of broken irreplaceable statues and a slightly damaged entrance hall."

The whole thing was said with a clearly forced smile which made it impossible for the other kage's to tell if the redhead was joking or not. This led to a rather awkward silence since nobody really knew how to respond. About the same time as Temari began to use extreme body language in order to tell her brother that he needed to say something the tsuchikage, who had been strangely quiet during the entire meeting, decided to finally come to the young kazekage's rescue.

"What happened exactly when you met?"

"Nothing special if I'm going to be completely honest. I stopped them from crushing everything in their way before showing them to their living quarters. Although, I did have a moment alone with Uchiha Itachi and were able to question him about his feelings concerning his brother."

"Didn't we decide on questioning them together", the raikage once more shouted out. Gaara had now finally returned to his regular new self. Therefor it was impossible to see any signs of irritation on his face that showed nothing except for a slight hint of boredom in his tired eyes. He slowly raised his elbows to the table and let is head rest on top of his clasped hands.

"We did, but I did not want to let the opportunity slip since it is not certain that we would be able to speak to him without the rest of the Akatsuki disturbing."

It seemed as if the hokage also disagreed with his actions, but before she had a chance to voice her opinion the door was kicked open and a tall man with slicked back grey stood in the opening. Hidan took a moment to eye each one of the five kages before he screamed over his shoulder; "I found them, guys! Get over here!"

Quickly enough had the entire Akatsuki made their way into the room, some with a bit more finesse than others, which appeared quite a lot smaller all of a sudden. It did not seem to face Gaara though since, if possible, his face showed even less emotion than earlier. He simply let out a small sigh and waved in a few more chairs, which were carried in by a pair of terrified secretaries. A moment of chaos erupted as all of the highly wanted criminals found themselves a seat. Once everyone was finally settled the kazekage forcefully brought forth a smile before attempting to be polite as he asked why the Akatsuki felt the need to barge into a private meeting.

XxXxX

The discussions continued for several hours and the Akatsuki members actually managed to remain fairly calm. There was only three major outburst and death threats were only voiced once. The death threat was something that Gaara had tried to avoid, but the hyperactive masked ninja really knew how to push his buttons. And the scolding he had received from the hokage had been disproportionally aggressive compared to the uttered threat. Surely he was allowed one bad day without people believing he would turn back into a crazed murderer and being screamed at like a child. Both the criminals and the other kages had now been escorted back to their quarters. The kazekage had also taken the opportunity to spend some time by himself in his room. He was at the moment lying on his back on his bed with his eyes closed and a slightly annoyed look on his face.

'What did he mean with there's better things for me to do?' he thought. 'It is clear that he doesn't believe in my abilities as kazekage, and he is hardly the only one. I have a hard time imagining that any of the other kages finds me capable of leading the wind-country properly. Possibly the hokage and the tsuchikage have some faith in me, but it seems like they act out of pity rather than respect majority of the time. And what did Uchiha intend to gain by intruding on my private part of the mansion.'

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a soft knocking at the door. His eyes shot open and darted slightly towards the next room. Ignoring the knock he closed his eyes again, hoping whoever were at the door would go away. The knocking did not continue so a deep consent sigh slipped through his lips and he sank a bit further into the mattress.

"You really shouldn't make that kind of sounds when I'm in the room. People might begin to talk."

Gaara darted straight up to a sitting position and quickly located the intruder in his room. The raven haired missing nin was leaning against the doorframe with a minor grin that a less attentive person would have easily overseen.

"Chances are that they will begin to talk anyway if you continue to sneak into my bedroom."

Itachi only chuckled at the kages infamous deadly stare.

"Do you always look this hateful?"

"I try to avoid it if possible."

"You don't seem to be trying very hard. Does that mean that you actually hate me?"

The questions took the kazekage by surprise and he flinched in shock. For a moment he simply stared at the other man with wide open eyes, looking like a frightened child.

"I try to not hate anymore" he finally stuttered out. "It belongs to a part of my life that I've left behind me."

"Surely you can't decide to simply stop hating people over night. I personally can't understand how you can even look at the people in this city. How you can work for their security is beyond me."

By the blink of an eye the kazekage's mood switched and he quickly rose up to his knees in order to fire of a death glare at full capacity.

"What are you implying? That I am not capable of leading Suna? That perhaps there are better things for me to focus on?"

The teasing little smirk from earlier returned to Itachi's lips as he began to walk towards the younger man.

"This can't possibly be about this morning."

The kazekage did not answer him which forced Itachi to continue. "I never meant to question your competence as kazekage or to insult you in any way." A hardly visible smirk suddenly appeared on the Uchihas features as he continued speaking. "If I'm going to be completely honest then I have to admit that I'm rather intrigued by you."

The answer was not one that Gaara had expected and he could not hide his surprise. The look of sheer shock on his face brought forth a small chuckle within Itachi. "I'm simply… fascinated by the fact that you managed to let go of your anger and hatred towards this village and the people in order to work so hard for their sake."

"It has been a long journey I suppose, but once I had made the decision to change there was no looking back. There was no other choice other than to work towards the goal to become kage."

"Now that was a very political answer. It also makes me believe you're not telling me the truth."

A flash of anger quickly waved over Gaara and for a moment lose his composure once again. A rather murderous aura seemed to be radiating from his entire body. Before he was able to utter any kind of threat Itachi began to speak once again.

"It is obvious you are not as composed and peaceful as you might wish to seem. I know what kind of life you used to live, what person you used to be, and it appears that you have not changed at all. You are either fooling yourself or extremely cunning."

None of this was of course true. Itachi was not blind; he could clearly see that a drastic change had occurred in the kazekage since his years of senseless murder streaks. This was simply a test of sort in order to assess the young man's intelligence and skills of deduction. Itachi had always appreciated an intellectual companion, and was hoping that he had found someone capable of carrying a proper conversation with him during this fairly peaceful time. For a moment it seemed as if Gaara would disappoint the older man when another flash of anger coloured his face a vibrant red tint, before the blood left his head and his features softened.

"Well if you know about my past then you should know not to underestimate me. I've learned a thing or two during the years, you know. I can tell you are playing with me," Gaara said as he walked on his knees towards the edge of the bed where Itachi stood. The redhead slowly raised his hand in order to let it rest lightly against Itachi's lower abs as a small cryptic smile danced over his lips. "The arguments, the compliments, you constantly sneaking into my bedroom, it is all a part of game. That's alright with me though. I can play this game just as well as you."

The effect of the short speech and the touch of thin fingers playing with the fabric of his cloak together with the sudden depth of Gaara's voice forced Itachi to shiver involuntary. For a moment the two men simply stared at each other, waiting for the next move to be played. The tension in the room was unfortunately destroyed before the raven haired man had a chance to response when they noticed a sudden noise coming from the other room.

"Oi Itachi, are you in here? Hidan wants to talk to you, un" Deidara yelled out as he appeared in the door. The blonde's expression slowly changed to first confusion and later to sheer shock as he noticed the slightly tangled sheets on the bed, Gaara's hand on Itachi's stomach and the light blush that had appeared on Itachi's cheeks.

"Oh, shit" Deidara muttered hoping he could escape Itachi's wrath as he stumbled out of the room.

* * *

I don't really know how fast I'm going to move along Gaara and Itachi's relationship, so I would love to hear your opinions if I should slow it down or continue this way. And a couple of reviews will make new chapters come quicker ;)


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